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WomenAid International
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Children of the world initiative
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ORPHAN KIDZ - OK!
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Millions of children are being orphaned
as their parents die of AIDS related illnesses. The figures are unimaginable
- 11 million children in sub-Saharan Africa alone have been orphaned by
the AIDS epidemic. Reliable sources estimate that by 2010 there will be
over 44 million orphans in the sub-Saharan, Asian, Latin America and Caribbean
countries alone, 30 million of them orphaned by AIDS.
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The scale of
this emerging disaster can be indicated by one example: in Kagera Province,
Tanzania, there are around 150,000 orphans out of a population of 800,000
people. Over 100,000 of these orphans receive no help. Vast numbers of
young and old are being left to fend for themselves and are being pushed
into a life of destitution, as governments are unable to fill the economic
void.
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Millions more are being orphaned by poverty
and war. The most defenceless victims of the savagery of war are children
who are terrorized, often sexually abused, mutilated, forced to participate
in killing or enrolled as child soldiers. Recent wars have targeted children
especially as they represent the future and in the last 10 years alone
1.5 million children have died in wars. Long after war is over it is the
children who continue to be traumatized by their brutal experience and
most at risk of being maimed by the hundreds of thousands of landmines
left as a deadly legacy of war.
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In many countries orphans are considered
outcasts. Throughout the world millions of children are kept in grossly
sub-standard orphanages and other institutions, suffering from inadequate
food, clothing, medical care, lack of stimulation and neglect. Medical
care for most orphans is limited and basic medical supplies are scarce.
In most of the newly independent republics of the former Soviet Union,
economic dislocation has ensured children in state institutions have not
fared well. These orphanages receive scarce public or private support:
children and staff survive primarily on intermittent food, bedding and
clothing assistance from international donors. Most orphanage buildings
have fallen into serious disrepair and lack functioning water and sewage
services, electricity or basic heating facilities.
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In war-stricken Afghanistan there are one
million orphans, many herded into disintegrating buildings, where disease
is rampant, food minimal -bread, tea and a little rice - and the children
do not even understand what a 'toy' is. The Afghan girl-child is especially
vulnerable under the harshly repressive Taliban regime.
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In China, millions of girl children are
abandoned to starvation and unnatural death, dying in institutional care
- the so called 'Dying Rooms'. Human Rights Watch report that many institutions
appeared to be operating as little more than assembly lines for the elimination
of unwanted orphans.
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WHO CARES?
The question now being asked is ‘who will
look after the children orphaned by AIDS?’ Family relatives are the first
safety net and extended family structures are absorbing great numbers of
orphans but poor families faced with more mouths to feed are being pushed
deeper into poverty. Hundreds of thousands of orphans have no adult relatives
left and already there are tens of thousands of child-headed households
struggling alone. Many communities are devising innovative ways to provide
the help the orphans need, such as setting up Community Child Care Committees.
Non-governmental organizations are struggling to develop other innovative
strategies, such as Cluster Foster Homes and Child Intervention Panels
– but the truth is brutal – no country will have enough social workers
to handle the care and protection of the rapidly increasing and vast number
of orphans.
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There is an urgent need for material aid
for these 'community dependent children' as most communities dealing with
the ever-increasing number of orphans are seriously impoverished from the
outset. The care of a child is a long-term commitment and the global challenge
is how to develop a sustainable system of care for all the years it will
take to raise the orphan generations. Families, communities and cash strapped
governments will need support and assistance on a long-term basis.
ALL ORPHANS EVERYWHERE
All orphans, wherever they are, must be
helped to survive the trauma of their early childhood and must be provided
with opportunities to develop fully their human potential.
The WomenAid Orphan Kidz - OK! programme is working to:-
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Focus
attention on the social impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemics upon children;
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Provide
urgent relief aid and support for children in distress;
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Promote
child rights advocacy and development and training ofRights
Educators’;
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Empower
orphaned children fostering the spirit of self-reliance, advocate their
cause and protect their rights
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Initiate
vocational training projects to provide children with usable skills for
life.
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Mobilise
effective community responses to meet the unprecedented challenge and strengthen
poverty-stricken communities offering care provision
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Support
individual, group and family carers and offer financial, material, logistical
and training support
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Formulate
concrete orphan support policies, and promote the development of new models
of care service delivery
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Implement
rehabilitation, refurbishment and construction programmes.
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Concern
for children and their development is a universal value, but millions of
children in many countries, are living in intolerable conditions.WomenAid
calls upon adults everywhere to give orphans a chance and to refuse to
‘tolerate the intolerable’. |
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Please give generously!Send
a donation!Organise a fundraising
event!
PLEASE DO SOMETHING TODAY FOR A
CHILD IN DISTRESS.
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Children
of the Silk Road Children
of the World Initiative Donations
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WOMENAID International
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